Railway



(No Mfodel.)

0.a. BAUER. BULSTER TRUSS.

N0. 592,536. Patented Oct. 26,1897.

lINiTEn STATES PATENT EETCE.

CARL E. BAUER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO TIIE SIMPLEX RAILWAY APPLIANCE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BOLSTER-TRU SS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 592,536, dated October 26, 1897'.

Application filed August 30, 1897. Serial No. 650,034. (No model.)

.To @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL E. BAUER, a citi-- zen of the United States, residing in Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bolster- Trusses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object the construction of a truss for a bolster from a single piece of metal which, while strong and rigid, will be at the same time light in weight, simple in form, and cheap to make.

More specifically my invention has for its object the construction of a bolster-truss from a single piece of metal having aweb and one or more flanges, the web being split from both ends inwardly toward the middle, the ends of the two split portions of each end of the truss being brought together by bending or forcing the webs past each other and then riveting them together in such bent position and the end of one of the split portions being formed with a tongue which is bent around the end of the other split portion. The tongue is formed on the end of the split portion which is designed to act as the tension member, and it is bent around the end of the portion which is designed to act as the compression member.

The detailed construction which I prefer to use in the practice of my invention I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which" Figure l represents a portion of a piece of metal split ready to be made into a truss. Fig. 2 is a view of the same after the two split portions have been bent together. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4. is a section on the line 4 fi of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. l, it will be seen that I have chosen 'for the construction of the truss a piece of commercial rolled I-beam 5, although a Z-bar or any other suitable shape could be used, if desired, without departing from the spirit of my invention. This I -beam I have split from the end inward to a point G, where a small hole is drilled, forming two split portions 7 and 8. Upon the one of these portions which is designed to form the tension member I form a projecting tongue 9, as shown, and the end of the other portion I cut off sufficiently short to permit this tongue to be wrapped around it when the two are bent together. I next bend the two ends up together, as shown in Fig. 2, the web of one split portion being forced past the web of the other, the two being riveted together in a position resembling that of the blades of a pair of shears when they are closed, and around the web of the compression-member portion I wrap the projecting tongue on the end of the tension-member portion, riveting it securely, as shown in Fig. 3, by the rivet l0.

The flanges l1 form a good bearing-surface on both the top and bottom of the truss, and

while a single truss, if' it have wide flanges, will be sufficient for a bolster in some cases it is perfectly obvious that a plurality of them could be used, if desired, placed side by side, as the flanges of the corresponding sides of the bolster would present a practically continuous surface.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A bolster-truss composed of a single piece of metal having a web and one or more flanges, the web being split from both ends inwardly toward the middle, the ends of the two split portions at each end of the truss be` ing brought together by bending the webs past each other, and the whole secured by rivets in such bent position, substantially as described.

2. A bolster-truss composed of a single piece of metal having a web and one or more flanges, the web being split from both ends inwardly toward the middle, one split portion forming a compression member and the other a tension member on each end of the truss, the ends of the two split portions being brought together by bending, and the end of the tension-member portion being formed with aprojecting tongue which is bent around the end of the compression-member portion in a manner substantially as shown and described.

3. A bolster-truss composed of a commercial rolled piece of metal having its web split from both ends toward the middle, the ends of the split portions being brought together IOO by bending, at each end of the truss, and secured in such bent position by rivets; one split portion on each end forming a tension member, and having a, tongue or projection thereon, and the other split portion on each end forming a. compression member around which the tongue of the tension member is bent, substantially as described.

4. A bolstertruss composed ofl a piece of an I-beam having its Web split from both ends toward the middle, the ends of the split portions being brought together by bending, at each end of the truss, and secured in such bent position by rivets; one split portion on each end forming a tension memberl and havi 5 ing a tongue or projection thereon, and the other split portion on each end forming a compression member stro und which the tongue of the tension member is bent, the flanges of the I-beam forming the top and bottom bearzo 

